Unpacking the Costume Institute’s Exhibition, “Unpacking Fashion”

Happy New Year friends! I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA lately; I needed some time off. But I’m here now, and I’m excited to tell you guys about the Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion exhibition at the Met — I went to New York with some friends last week to see it. Aside from eating pizza and Halal Guys, seeing this exhibition was the main reason for the pilgrimage, so after five hours on a sweaty, bumpy bus ride from hell, I was worried that it might not live up to my hype. But, of course, Jessica Regan and Andrew Bolton did not disappoint.

The exhibition is laid out in chronological order, showing key pieces from the 18th, 19th, early 20th, and late 20th centuries. Then it moved on to contemporary designs and finally wrapped up in The Harold Koda gift, which was a room that included pieces that were donated by designers in honor of Harold Koda’s retirement in January 2016. Selected designs from each of these time periods are juxtaposed with pieces from previous periods to illustrate how fashion evolves over time while drawing inspiration from the past.

I also liked that the exhibition was just as much about the Costume Institute as it was about the clothes. Of course, there were descriptive plaques to go along with each clothing piece, but there were also larger signs that provided information about the time periods and the ways in which the Institute’s methods of collecting pieces have changed over the years.

Here are some of my favorite photos from my visit to the exhibition:

Viktor & Rolf; Spring 2010

A view of the gallery, including French dresses from the 1700s

on left: Gilbert Adrian with Salvador Dali/1947; on right: Elsa Schiaparelli with Jean Cocteau for House of Lesage/1937

foreground: John Galliano for Maison Margiela/Spring 2015 posed next to garments from 18th century France; background: Comme des Garçons/Spring 2015

Chanel Haute Couture/Fall 2012

on left: Tom Ford/Fall 2014; on right: Geoffrey Beene/1967

Viktor & Rolf/Fall 2015 Haute Couture

If you can make it out to see it, I would recommend it. If not, then I would recommend watching this video created by the Met and then exploring the Met’s website, which includes photos and descriptions of a lot of the pieces that are in the exhibition.

I might drop down to a weekly post for a little while because once a week is more manageable for me, but I’m not sure, so watch this page and follow me on twitter for updates!